‘A work of art, grand in conception and birth’

    

As you know, the 140th anniversary of the dedication of Liberty Enlightening the World comes October 28. I’m not aware of any local Masonic buzz about it, but if you happen to be in North West England, one lodge has an evening planned around the sculpture. The image above has all the details.

Queen’s Jubilee Lodge’s name refers to the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria, celebrated in 1887, the year the lodge was constituted. It is part of the Provincial Grand Lodge of East Lancashire.

Of course more commonly known as the Statue of Liberty, the landmark at the time of its construction also was referred to as the Bartholdi Statue (or Monument), for sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, the Freemason from France who designed the colossus. (Its skeleton was made by Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel before erecting the tower in Paris that bears his name.)

The Gilded Age indeed was a golden age for Masonic dedications of public infrastructure great and small in New York, and the Statue of Liberty was not overlooked. Its pedestal’s cornerstone-laying on August 5, 1884 was attended by our top officers, led by Grand Master William A. Brodie.

Address by MW William A. Brodie,

Grand Master

Men and Brethren here assembled: Be it known unto you, that we be lawful Masons, true and faithful to our country, and engaged by solemn obligations, to erect magnificent buildings, to be serviceable to the brethren, and to fear God, the Great Architect of the Universe. We have among us, concealed from the eyes of all men, secrets which cannot be divulged, and which have never been found out; but these secrets are honorable, and not repugnant to the laws of God or man. They were entrusted, in peace and honor, to the masons of ancient times, and having been faithfully transmitted to us, it is our duty to convey them unimpaired to the latest posterity. 

William A. Brodie

Unless our craft were good, and our calling honorable, we should not have lasted for so many generations, nor should we have been honored with the patronage of so many illustrious men in all ages, who have ever shown themselves ready to promote our interests and defend us from all adversaries. We are assembled here today in the face of you all to erect a statue representing liberty enlightening the world, a work of art grand in its conception and birth.

As Auguste Bartholdi sailed into the bay of New York a few years ago, the sight of the great city before him was grand, but grander the thought which found lodgment in his mind, of placing at this entrance to the continent, something that would welcome to these shores all who love and seek liberty, and the thought at this time crude though grand, gave birth to this statue; grand in its figure—colossal in size; grand in its practical use—lighting the storm-tossed mariner to a safe harbor, and grand in its very name and the significance thereof: “Liberty Enlightening the World.”

Liberty—of thought, of conscience, of action, that true liberty that is not license, but which finds its highest development in obedience to constituted authorities and law. Enlightening—how necessary enlightenment to true liberty and the highest appreciation thereof. World—yes, to the whole world does our continent open its arms and bid it welcome to the blessings of liberty.

The question may and no doubt will be asked, Why call upon the Masonic fraternity to lay the cornerstone of such a structure as is here to be erected? This fraternity is called upon to lay the cornerstones of public edifices in this country, as has been answered. First, because it has become a common practice the world over; the adoption of a custom so ancient that the memory of man cannot run to the contrary; a custom which prevailed centuries before modern secret societies were thought of. Secondly, because the Masonry of the present day is but ancient operative masonry, with the operative portion dropped and the speculative retained. And as our ancient brethren erected grand old works of architecture that adorn the cities of the world, and which have come down to us covered with the mold and moss of centuries, or lie in ruin’s silent data, so ancient that history fails to reach back to the distant point—so in a speculative sense, the Masonic fraternity of the present age are called upon to erect the magnificent works of modern architecture, by laying the cornerstones thereof. But there is a special reason why we should be called upon for this special duty of today. No institution has done more to promote liberty and to free men from the trammels and chains of ignorance and tyranny than Freemasonry, and we as a fraternity take an honest pride in depositing the cornerstone of the pedestal of the statue of “Liberty Enlightening the World.”  And which we pray God may deserve to prosper by becoming a beacon light of liberty to all men and promoting harmony and brotherly love throughout the world till time shall be no more. Amen.

Masonic ceremony dominated the day’s festivities. Our brethren provided additional orations, music, prayers, deposit of a time capsule, and, of course, the consecration ceremony.

     

‘Museum fundraiser seeks auction items’

    

Click to enlarge.

As a fundraiser to benefit its library and museum, the Grand Lodge of Virginia plans a gala for October 23 that will feature a silent auction. We can help by donating pieces of Masonic material culture to be sold by bid that evening. From the publicity:

Silent Auction Donations Needed!

We are preparing for the Grand Lodge of Virginia Library and Museum Fundraising Gala on Friday, October 23 in Richmond, and we are now seeking donations for our silent auction. We are especially interested in antique and historic Masonic collectibles, including:

⬩antique Masonic memorabilia

⬩old Masonic jewels, medals, and pins

⬩vintage lodge items

⬩historic Masonic books

⬩antique Masonic artwork

⬩Past Master items

⬩lodge photographs and documents

⬩rare or unusual Masonic collectibles

We also are looking for gift cards, gift baskets, restaurant certificates, golf packages, experiences, artwork, services, and other unique items. If you have something you would be willing to donate—or know someone who might—we would love to hear from you.

Help us preserve and celebrate the rich history of Freemasonry in Virginia while making this fundraising gala a tremendous success. Brothers, let’s see what treasures are hiding in those lodge rooms, attics, and collections.

To contribute, send an email here.

A transition is underway at the institution. While Grand Lodge’s website still refers to it as the Allen E. Roberts Masonic Library, Inc., it seems that name is subject to change pending the right endowment donation. Also, personnel changes have been made, and displays of artifacts are expanding.

Listen to this recent episode of Grand Lodge’s Nine Mile Road Podcast to hear about these reforms and more. Host Jason Himsey interviews Grand Senior Warden Gino Williams. Not even ten minutes. Check it out.

     

‘Sir Robert Moray Seminar: Masonic History in the Making’

Scotland on Saturday! A great program awaits you if you can get to the research lodge in Edinburgh on the 26th. From the publicity:

Lodge Sir Robert Moray 1641 cordially invites you to attend our forthcoming seminar.

◦ Matthew Leigh: “Theatre, Theatricality, and Play in 18th Century Masonic Ritual”

◦ Adam Bruce: “From the 30 Years’ War to the Bishops’ War: The significance of the Muddy Field Outside Newcastle.”

◦ Charles Winston: “Elias Ashmole and Sir Robert Moray: Astrology and Astronomy”

◦ John Hawkins: “Early ‘Scots’ Freemasonry in England, France, and Germany, 1723-47”

Saturday, September 26

Doors: 9:30 a.m. Seminar: 11

The Masonic Hall, 19 Hill Street

Admission: $30, including lunch, etc.

Tickets here.

As you know, Matthew Leigh is the author of The Masons and the Mysteries in 18th Century Drama (2019), of which its publisher says: “The fathers of modern Freemasonry sought a classical pedigree for their rituals and forms of association. This volume offers the first academic study of how Freemasons writing in the first half of the 18th century deployed their knowledge of antiquity to bolster this claim and how the creative literature of the period reflected their ideas.” He is a professor of Classics at St. Anne’s College, Oxford University. (I hope he’s a Mason, but I don’t know.)

Lodge Sir Robert Moray 1641

Bro. Bruce is fifth from front. He is Marchmont Herald at the Court of the Lord Lyon.

Bro. Adam Bruce is a Past Master of Lodge Robert Moray 1641. Bro. Charles Winston’s name is recognizable from back issues of The Philalethes, and he is secretary of the Grand Lodge of Scotland’s History and Heritage Group. You remember Bro. John Hawkins from his 2022 Prestonian Lecture, “The Royal Family and Freemasonry.”

This is not the first Sir Robert Moray Symposium. They seem to be held every couple of years.

If you’re unfamiliar with Robert Moray, the Scotsman was initiated into Freemasonry in 1641, during the Scots’ siege of Newcastle upon Tyne during the First English Civil War, making him the first non-operative made a Freemason on English soil—five years before Elias Ashmole.

     

‘Brent to bring Folger to Indianapolis’

    

If you missed Brent Morris’ appearance at The American Lodge of Research six months ago, I suppose you could catch him in Indianapolis in October. The Grand Lodge of Indiana plans a Masonic Education Day for Saturday the third. Brent will reprise his talk on Robert Benjamin Folger and his vexing Masonic cipher of 200 years ago.

If you have read Committed to the Flames, Arturo de Hoyos’ and Brent’s book on this secret code, its author, and the rituals themselves, then you know all about it. Otherwise, you’ll be amazed by this story.

Brent’s illustrious career has encompassed teaching mathematics, statistics, computer security, and cryptology at Duke, Johns Hopkins, and George Washington universities, as well as The National Cryptologic School. This will get the conspiracy goofballs worked up, but he also was a cryptologic mathematician at the National Security Agency for a quarter-century. So you can see why he’d want to decipher an elusive code that possibly only its creator ever knew.

I’ll try to summarize the story. Circa 1826, Robert Benjamin Folger, age 23, a physician and a new Mason at Fireman’s Lodge 368 (and later in I.R.A. 2) here in New York, filled a pocket-sized commonplace book with his own cipher of the Rectified Rite’s Craft rituals. This was not like anything you’ve seen in any Masonic ritual book, nor was it the Pigpen Cipher, or any other coded alphabet that might come to mind.

The code had been cracked twice in the twentieth century, first by W. Bro. Wil Baden in the 1950s, another New York Mason; and again by Mr. Donald H. Bennett in the ’80s. Proving it’s a small world, Bennett was inspired by the article “Fraternal Cryptography” Brent recently had published on the subject. Neither man was aware of Baden’s success.

Brent Morris sporting his UGLE regalia
at The ALR in March.

Baden cracked the code using what they call the “matched plain and cipher” technique made possible by the inclusion of some English text in Folger’s pages, which Baden compared and contrasted with symbols in the cipher. Bennett employed the “cipher text only” method involving “classical cryptanalytic techniques.” His findings are revealed in his paper “An Unsolved Puzzle Solved” in Cryptologia magazine.

Honestly, it’s a bit much for me to comprehend, but some basics were discovered: Folger’s code masked English words; it is read from left to right, top to bottom; the same encryption style is employed throughout, and twenty-six symbols stand for English characters; words are represented by clusters of symbols; and identical repeats of many words are seen. Get Committed to the Flames for the full story.

The book also contains the amazing (to me, at least) biographical details of Folger’s medical career and Masonic activities. Not your typical lodge sideliner! 

Also on the program for October 3:

   • Candidate Experience

   • Grand Master’s Blueprint Project

   • Masonic Symbolism

   • MED Talks from Indiana Brothers

   • Lodge Showcase

Indianapolis Freemasons Hall. 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Registration is free. Lunch costs $20/person. Register here.

‘Astronomical Symbolism in Freemasonry’

    

Ontario Masons’ education committee has an online presentation planned for Saturday night. The image above has all the info, but here’s more from the publicity:

Join us for a special evening in the Grand Lodge Masonic Education Speaker Series as we welcome Bro. John Badowski for a presentation titled “Astronomical Symbolism in Freemasonry.”

Drawing on nearly sixty years as an amateur astronomer, Bro. Badowski will explore the astronomical symbols found throughout Freemasonry and consider their possible meanings, origins, and connections to the ritual of the Craft. The presentation will examine such subjects as the seven stars, the Pleiades, the Northeast angle of the Lodge, seven-pointed stars, and the “bright morning star,” offering insight into how celestial imagery may have shaped Masonic symbolism over time.

This presentation will also mark Bro. Badowski’s 100th Masonic lecture.

This event is open to all. Click here to register.

Click here to enjoy any of the dozens of previous talks.

     

‘Biagetti on Freemasonry in Revolutionary Rhode Island’

    

Collegivm Lvminosvm, Rhode Island’s research lodge, will continue its celebration of America’s 250th anniversary by welcoming a speaker to discuss the Craft of the Revolutionary era. From the publicity:

Collegivm Lvminosvm to Host

Historical Presentation

in Celebration

of America’s 250th Birthday

Collegivm Lvminosvm will hold its Michaelmas Term Communication on Wednesday, September 30 at the Valley of Providence, and is proud to host Semiquincentennial Lodge 250 with a very special guest speaker.

To help us celebrate our nation’s 250th birthday, Dr. Samuel Biagetti will present “Freemasonry in Revolutionary Rhode Island.” Dr. Biagetti’s award-winning research has been published in the journal Early American Studies and the Journal of Caribbean History. His dissertation, “The Only Universal Monarchy: Freemasonry, Ritual, and Gender in Revolutionary Rhode Island, 1749-1803,” is the single most comprehensive work on the formative years of Rhode Island Freemasonry written in the past century.

Collegivm will open at 6 p.m., with dinner at 6:30, and the program will start at approximately 7:15. Dinner and the presentation are open to all Masons and their guests. Reservations for dinner are required by Friday, September 25. Contact Bro. Joshua here and provide the number of guests in your party.

The Scottish Rite is located at 2115 Broad Street in Cranston.

Samuel Biagetti

Biagetti earned his Ph.D. in early American history from Columbia University in 2015. His podcast, Historiansplaining, can be heard on the usual platforms. Of his thesis, the basis of his topic for September 30, he says:

Historians, in considering Freemasonry in the eighteenth century, have tended to define it in political terms, as an expression of enlightened sociability and of the secular public sphere that supposedly paved the way for modern democracy. A close examination of the lodges in Newport and Providence, Rhode Island, between 1749 and 1804, disproves these received notions. It finds that, contrary to scholarly perception, Freemasonry was deeply religious and fervently committed to myth and ritual. Freemasonry in this period was not tied to any one social class, but rather the Fraternity attracted a wide array of mobile, deracinated young men, such as mariners, merchants, soldiers, and actors, and while it was religiously heterogeneous, the fraternity maintained a close relationship with the Anglican Church. The appeal of Masonry to young men in Atlantic port towns was primarily emotional, offering lasting social bonds amidst the constant upheaval of the eighteenth century, as well as a ritually demarcated refuge from the patriarchal responsibilities of the male gender.

   

Masonry celebrated the holiness of kingship in its myths and symbols; far from hotbeds of revolution, the lodges were haunted by the Jacobite movement, which was firmly royalist and traditionalist. Its main political impact in Anglo-America came in the aftermath of independence, when Masonic art and rhetoric helped to carve out a sphere of sacred institutions and loyalties—such as the Constitution, the Navy, the judiciary, and the figure of George Washington—that purportedly stood above partisan politics, and hence could take the place of the overthrown monarch. Far from proto-democratic, Freemasonry appealed to men’s longing for the unity and stability of a restored Biblical kingdom; the lodges operated largely by social deference and suppressed internal politicking. The Masons summed up their mission in their repeated toasts in the 1790s that prayed, “May universal Masonry be the only universal monarchy.”

     

‘Happy anniversary (sort of) to Grand Lodge!’

    

National Portrait Gallery

John Murray, 4th Duke of Atholl

On this date 245 years ago, Freemasonry in New York began its transformation from factious lodges, tied to the opposing sides in the American Revolution, to the post-colonial cohesive fraternity—the Grand Lodge of New York we have today.

There are a number of books to read about this complicated story, but I turn to the massive History of the Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons and Concordant Orders published in 1893. Spanning more than 900 pages, it devotes appropriate space to recounting what happened. The following excerpt comes mid thought on the matter of a requested lodge warrant (Lodge No. 215):

...the Duke of Athol, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of England, “Ancients,” granted, on September 5, 1781, a warrant to open a Provincial Grand Lodge in New York City. During the interval between the granting of the warrant and the first meeting of the Grand Lodge, December 5, 1782, the Grand Lodge of England was opened on American soil for the first, and possibly the only, time. The extract, which we give in full, has been duly authenticated by Colonel Shadwell H. Clerke, Grand Secretary of England, as follows:

Extract from the Minutes of the Grand Lodge of ‘Free and Accepted Masons, according to the Old Institutions,’ at present in the Archives of the United Grand Lodge of England, Freemasons’ Hall, London:

Grand Lodge opened at 4 o’clock in the City of New York, North America, on the 21st February, An. Do. 1782, An. Lap. 5782.

The R.. W... & Rev’d Br. William Walter P.G.M. Elect as D.G.M.;

the R.. W.. Br. John St. Browning, Esq., P.S.G.W. Elect as S.G.W.;

the R.. W... & Rev’d Br. John Barkley, P.J.G.W. Elect as J.G.W.;

the R.. W.. Br. Isaac Callins, P.M. of 169 as Gd. Secy.;

Present: Br. Cunningham, Mr. of No. 169; Warden, S.W. of No. 169; Lounds, J.W. of No. 169; Barclay, P.M. of 169; McEwen, P.M. of No. 169; Collins, Mr. of No. 210; Watson, S.W. of No. 210; Grigg, J.W. of No. 210; Br. Cock, Mr. of No. 212; Courtney, S.W. of No. 212; Harrison, J.W. of No. 212; Hodson, P.M. of No. 212; Crowell, P.M. of No. 212; Drew, Mr. of No. 213; Fife, S.W. of No. 213; Geddes, J.W. of No. 213; Stokes, P.M. of No. 213.

Installed according to Ancient usage:

Maximilian de Strait, Master.

The Rev’d John Phillip Erb, S.W.

Vice David Schoeph, absent.

George Dorg, J.W.

Vice Ferd’d Foester, dead.

All matters relative to this Constitution being complaited, the Gd. Officers aforesaid, in the name of the Most Noble Prince John, Duke of Athol, G.M., proclaimed the New Lodge duly constituted, No. 215, registered in Grand Lodge Book, volume 8, letter H., to be held in the Second Reg’t of Anspack Berauth.

Closed before 7 o’clock, adjourned to the Grand Lodge in London.

N.B. The Rev’d Will’m Walter was empowered to act as D.G.Mr. (for three hours only) by an authority from Wm. Dickey, Esqr., D.G.M.

   [Seal.]

   Certified as a true extract,

   SHADWELL H. CLERKÉ, G.S.

N.B. The name Browning above given is a mistake. It should be Brownrigg.

S.H.C.

The Lodges, Nos. 169, 210, “Ancient”; 212, “Ancient”; No. 52, in her Majesty’s 37th Regiment of Foot; “Moriah,” No. 133, in her Majesty’s 22d Regiment of Foot; No. 213, “Ancient,” in 44th Battalion of Royal Artillery; No. 215, “Ancient,” in 2d Regiment of Anspack Berauth; No. 441, “Irish,” held in her Majesty’s 38th Regiment; “Sion’s,” held by dispensation in her Majesty’s 57th Regiment, were present and assisted at the formation of the Provincial Grand Lodge of New York, December 5, 1782, of which Reverend William Walter, A.M., was Grand Master.

The principal business of the Grand Lodge in the early days was the healing of “Modern” Master Masons (in one case St. John’s Lodge, “Moderns,” made application, and the Master and Wardens were admitted in the Grand Lodge and initiated in the “Ancient” mysteries).

The purchase and acceptance of presents of lottery tickets also received favorable attention.

March 13, 1783, the Grand Lodge granted its first warrant, in New York City, to Concordia, No. 6.

The Grand Lodge was at this time controlled by the Army lodges. In the lodge, during the turmoil of war, the Royalists and the Federalists were wont to meet upon the square, both sides meeting upon the level. When the time came for the evacuation of New York by the British troops, the Grand Lodge, September 19, 1783, —

“Resolved, That the Grand Warrant shall be left, and remain in the use of such brethren as may hereafter be appointed to succeed the present Grand Officers, the most of whom being under the necessity of leaving New York upon the removal of his Majesty’s troops,” etc.

Grand Master Walter resigned, and Brother William Cock was elected and installed Grand Master.

February 4, 1784, the three oldest Masters of different lodges were appointed a committee on charity.

Grand Master William Cock resigned, and Robert R. Livingston was elected Grand Master and installed by proxy.

March 3, 1784, Livingston was personally installed and inducted into the Chair as Grand Master. It is said he was a “Modern” Mason, and his being elected Grand Master of an “Ancient” Grand Lodge caused many of the “Modern” lodges to come forward and seek admission into the Grand Lodge, and to apply for new warrants, which were accordingly granted.

December 23, 1786, it was ordered that all the lodges in the State hand in their respective warrants, so that the rank and precedency of the whole might be determined.

On March 7, 1786, a committee was appointed, “To consider the propriety of holding the Grand Lodge under the present warrant, and that proper measures be taken to effect a change, if it should be thought constitutional and expedient.”  The committee subsequently reported that no change was necessary, except in the draft of the style of warrant to be hereafter granted by the Grand Lodge. As soon as the precedency of the lodges was established, then all the lodges were to take out new warrants, and deliver up the old ones. On June 3, 1789, the question of precedency was settled.

Who was John Murray, 4th Duke of Atholl? Most of what we find on the web chronicles his peerage, many titles, place in the family tree, etc. Born 1755. Died 1830. It seems the narrative of his biography concerns Freemasonry, and he is remembered in England for serving as the final Grand Master of the Ancients leading into the formation of the United Grand Lodge of England in 1813. He resigned his position on November 8 of that year, setting in motion the process that would culminate in the Duke of Sussex, Grand Master of the Moderns, becoming an Ancient Mason on December 1, and subsequently the first Grand Master of the UGLE on December 27.

But that’s a whole other blog post.

In closing, just a word about those lottery tickets of the early 1780s: These were not the embarrassing 50/50 drawings certain lodges feature at their meetings today. In fact, private lotteries—basically numbers running—had been outlawed in New York generations earlier. The lotteries of the period at hand were offered by government, like today, to raise funds for public building projects. Rather than cause problems by hiking taxes, lottery tickets would be sold, making the “tax” payable voluntarily.

     

‘Good Samaritan’s “All Wars” dinner’

    

Click to enlarge.

Good Samaritan Lodge 336 in Gettysburg is appreciated for, among other reasons, its occasional dinners when the menu is comprised of period dishes one might have eaten around the time the U.S. Civil War remade the obscure rural crossroads into a national shrine. With the meal each time has been a historical program that recreates part of life during that wartime. Another such dinner is planned for later this month for which the chosen fare will represent tastes from the four wars that formed and transformed our nation, with commentary by voices from the past. From the publicity:

All Wars Dinner: America 250

Good Samaritan Lodge 336

Saturday, September 26

9 Lincoln Square

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Doors at 5 p.m. Dinner at six.

$50 per person. Tickets here.

Travel through 250 years of American history—one plate and one story at a time!

Join Good Samaritan 336 for our All Wars Dinner: America 250, a special evening celebrating the people, stories, and food connected to Gettysburg and America’s military history.

Enjoy a historic menu inspired by four eras of American history, from George Washington’s Mount Vernon Salad and Civil War-era punches, to World War I trench cake and a Second World War-inspired C-Rations dinner.

Throughout the evening, we’ll also share the stories of individuals with connections to Gettysburg, including Lt. James Gettys, Col. Henry Morrow, Mamie Eisenhower, and Willis Wolf Eisenhart.

Come hungry, leave with a little more history!

I normally wouldn’t spend fifty bucks to eat C-Rations, but they did say Mamie Eisenhower. Seriously though, this sounds like another great lodge event. Get there for the whole day and make this your Saturday night dinner, or spend the weekend touring the sights. It’s Gettysburg. Lots to do.

     

‘For sale: d’oh!-main name’

    

I was chagrined this evening to discover this. The Knights of the North, publisher of the influential treatise Laudable Pursuit: A 21st Century Response to Dwight Smith, finally—I know not when, but somewhat recently—abandoned its domain name. D’oh!

The KOTN morphed into the Masonic Society in 2008 and, one alum’s effort to revive the knighthood in 2019 notwithstanding, it’s been kaput. Still, it’s sad LP is no longer available on the web.

     

‘General Grand news’

    

If you haven’t heard via social media or from your grand chapter or grand council, there’s grand news from the District of Columbia, where Triennial 2026 is underway. The ballots have been counted, and the general grand bodies have new officers.

The General Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons International shall be governed the coming three years by:

   General GHP Chadwick B. Burks

   General Grand King Piers A. Vaughan

   General Grand Scribe Patrick Carr

   Deputy General GHP Fred Palmer

General Grand Chapter

Also, Jason Sheridan is the new General Grand Custodian of the Work, and Mark Peerson is the Ambassador to New York.

At the General Grand Council of Cryptic Masons International, they’re celebrating in New Jersey where local M.I. Past Grand Masters have been elected. That team is:

   MP General Grand Master William Keith Powell

   RP Deputy General Grand Master Mark Irwin

   RP General Grand Principal Conductor of the Work Sean McNorton

   RP General Grand Treasurer Mark Megee

   RP General Grand Recorder Kevin Sample

I’ve known many of these outstanding Masons a long time, and I wish them all the best in the hard labor that awaits them.

General Grand Council

And condolences to those who did not win election. Agent Reed, you have an amazing future in the Masonic world to continue the impressive journey you’ve traveled.

Disclosure: In general, I believe these General Grand bodies need not exist any longer, but you know how hard it is to close down a bureaucracy. But, if the tools are wielded by capable hands, then I’ll stop saying these groups should be closed down.

One request though: Please revamp The Royal Arch Mason Magazine. At the very least, please change the titles of the columns “King’s Komments” and “Scribe’s Scribbles.” They are so childish and demeaning it’s incredible to me how they have persisted. This is Freemasonry. In some cases, it is permissible to talk to us like we’re adults.

I haven’t received a copy of this magazine in a couple of years. I don’t remember asking to unsubscribe, but maybe I had. Part of me wonders if I was unsubbed because I was urging the editor to stop the baby talk. And The Cryptic Freemason magazine? I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a copy of that. Is it still in production?

     

‘LORE 1786 to meet; transactions coming soon’

    

New Jersey Lodge of Masonic Research and Education 1786—known locally as LORE—is achieving a milestone: our first book of transactions in many years soon will go to press. Volume V will cover the eon spanning 2011 to 2022.

Eleven years is a long time between books, equaling  approximately forty-four meetings of the lodge (we missed one or two during the fake pandemic), and this book will relate material presented therein. We don’t have everything from all those meetings because we (mistakenly) brought to the lectern speakers who did not submit papers, and we cannot print digital visual slideshows in book form.

Yes, there will be ebook format, but also both hardcover and paperback books.

Congratulations to Secretary Erich on getting it done!

Our upcoming regular communication will be Saturday, September 12 at Freemasons Hall in North Brunswick. Lodge tyles at 9:30 a.m. Light refreshments before and lunch after. Two presentations on the bill:

Bro. Jerry, of Laurel Lodge 237, will discuss How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler, the late educator, author, and philosopher. The lodge trestleboard says this book is even more relevant today than when published in 1940. We’ll find out why.

The other presentation will come from myself. That weekend will be the precise bicentennial anniversary of the arrest and alleged disappearance of William Morgan at Batavia, New York. I’m not going to talk too much about that “Morgan Affair,” but instead will explain the resulting anti-masonic hysteria that nearly destroyed our fraternity in many states, focusing on the Anti-Masonic Party in New Jersey.

There’s history you might not expect—unless you study New Jersey politics, in which case these ridiculous people won’t faze you one second.

LORE meets on the second Saturdays of March, June, September, and December at Freemasons Hall, home of Union Lodge 19, in North Brunswick. It’s a research lodge, so we’re focused chiefly on Masonic history, but we’re open to other things deemed relevant to our mission. (We do not provide ritual instruction or welcome speculations on symbolism.)

     

‘Hiram Lodge’s 1750 EA°’

    

Hiram Lodge 1 Worshipful Master Clint Potter, who sat in the South for the degree, displays the lodge’s banner despite the breeze yesterday at Fort Nathan Hale in New Haven. My attempt to liven the banner’s color turned his wig blue!

On October 14, 1789, the recently organized Grand Lodge of Connecticut adopted an ordinance that caused every lodge entering an apprentice to forward to the grand treasurer three dollars from the fee paid the lodge by each initiate. I’m guessing that assessment has been increased since then, but what apparently has not changed is the ritual of the EA° worked by Hiram Lodge 1.

Established at New Haven on August 12, 1750, Hiram was chartered by RW Thomas Oxnard, then in his sixth year as Provincial Grand Master of New England under the premier Grand Lodge of England. Because Hiram antecedes its own grand lodge, and—from what I understand—still possesses the Oxnard warrant, it retains the freedom to work its 1750 vintage ritual. That is what ninety of us witnessed yesterday in an outdoor conferral of the First Degree on two candidates for the mysteries of Freemasonry, and that is what drew me to Fort Nathan Hale, site of the initiation.

Grand Senior Warden Mark Hawkins and Grand Senior Steward Bob Eubanks were very pleasant dining companions at the YMA Club and Lounge before the degree.

Not knowing the content of this ritual, I was expecting tradition similar to what unfolds in the ritual exposures Masonry Dissected and Three Distinct Knocks, which date to that general mid eighteenth century era. Instead, I was shocked to find this ritual is almost identical to… to… contemporary Grand Lodge of New Jersey work!

We received a commemorative coin yesterday.

There are a few big differences, but in the floor work and the dialogue among the lodge officers, the Entered Apprentice Degree we saw yesterday is mostly the same as one could see tomorrow night in a New Jersey lodge. Having spent nineteen years in New Jersey Freemasonry, its ritual remains cut, carved, stamped, etc. in my brain, despite my having left there a decade ago for the bluer pastures of New York. Those big differences are:

‣ When imparting the grip, there is a gesture named the “slip of interrogation.” It was shown to me prior to the degree, but I’ve never seen nor heard of it before—and, no, I won’t describe it.

‣ In explaining to the new apprentices the centrality of the Bible to the lodge’s doings, there comes (I think it’s called) the Bible Charge. Also previously unknown to me.

‣ I imagine every lodge has an oration delivered at the apron presentation, but Hiram’s is unlike any I’ve heard or read. It struck me as sounding somewhat modern, so I don’t know what to make of it. I was delighted to see the new apprentices were given quality aprons replete with cords & tassels.

‣ Conversely, and after the fact, I think I discerned something missing from what most of us know. My memory may be failing me, but I think the word of the degree was not imparted to the initiates in that same highly precise way and manner the rest of us might expect. Maybe my mind wandered or I’m just not recollecting it, but I think that was done more simply.

Unsurprisingly, there is no EA Lecture as 1750 predates William Preston’s Illustrations by decades.

I do not know anyone from Hiram 1, otherwise I simply would ask about these things. Anyway, it all comprised a wonderful early evening (we were finished before eight o’clock) and, while the two new Masons looked utterly baffled, I don’t doubt this was a genuinely enlightening experience for them.

The ambiance amid the trees of Fort Hale was what one would expect for an outdoor degree: (very) casual attire among those of us on the sidelines, although some of us wore suits (I left my suit jacket in the car); tiki torches for illumination; bug spray in abundance; spotty audio quality (the mikes were not picking up half of what was being said). The lodge’s ritualists wore period wardrobe.

Wasn’t it too hot on that late August day, you ask? The Grand Architect’s Weather Department couldn’t have been more kind, giving sunlight-gilded azure skies enhanced by a calming breeze that seemed to sanctify the entire scene. Perfection.

Masons from a variety of places were in attendance. In addition to various points around Connecticut, brethren traveled from Massachusetts, New Hampshire (a delegation from Hiram Lodge 9), New York (me), and Pennsylvania. This resulted in diverse regalia on exhibit.

The Pennsylvanians, coming from Richmond-Solomon’s Lodge 3, dating to 1764, in Philly; and even Pittsburgh(!), were on hand because of their induction earlier in the day of MW Shane Dufresne into the Tall Cedars of Lebanon. Speaking of initiations, the TCL is on a roll lately in conferring its Sidonian Degree on grand masters. New Jersey’s MW Omar Morris will enter Elizabeth Forest on Thursday. I think my grandfather was a member there.

I got into town later than I wanted, but still had time for a beer at The Owl Shop. The beer of the week was Coors, which gave me and the bartender a laugh, so I had a glass of Peroni. A perfect lager on a warm summer day. Although not a great distance, the drive is an unpleasant slog through the most crowded highways in the Northeast. Didn’t buy any pipe tobacco this time.

The pre-degree supper was very good. I had a succulent chicken breast with thick zucchini rounds, broccoli florets, and penne. We gathered for the meal about a mile up the street at a historic banquet hall.

IYKYK.

I wish there had been the chance to explore Fort Nathan Hale. Its history involves the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and even the Civil War, although, naturally, there was no fighting then.

The customary group photo. After the degree, everyone gathered in the West just before 8 p.m. Sunset was more than twenty minutes earlier, so it actually was pretty dark when snapping the picture. Some crude editing makes the photo somewhat publishable.

If Hiram plans to repeat this outstanding event, make sure you get there.